A bottle for half a salary: prices for imported perfumes in Russia have tripled
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The scent of scarcity
The crisis, and not only the economic one, has been going on for more than a year, and it became clear that no matter what happens, Russians are in no hurry to give up goods that help them enjoy life. For example, perfumes – according to the results of 2022, perfume sales in the country grew by 27.7% in annual terms, and 2023, apparently, will show results no worse. That’s just the way to buy perfume over the past year and a half has changed quite a lot.
Last year, 74% of sales traditionally fell on ordinary retail outlets, however, the volume of remote sales of perfume, i.e. in online stores, amounted to 10% – more than ever before. Indeed, perfume sales in 2022–2023 migrated online. Serious passions are unfolding in online stores – almost in the truest sense of the “million”. Particularly enthusiastic (and, obviously, not constrained by money) perfume lovers are ready to pay about half of the average Moscow salary for a bottle of the coveted novelty.
For example, in 2023, one of the popular American brands released two novelties, the idea of which continues the pre-existing and fashionable fragrance – several variations on the theme of cherries. Officially, they will not be brought to Russia, and in online stores a 75 ml bottle of new items is sold for 40–45 thousand rubles. There is a lot of demand – the product ends very quickly!
Well, in chain stores, which used to lure with pleasant promotions, the situation is really gloomy.
“Now we have a good offer, a 30% discount,” a sales assistant of one of the French brands confidently begins to lure in a store in the center of Moscow. “We just need to see what’s left.” This fragrance, it seems, is only a 30 ml bottle, the big ones are over … There is a shower gel here, the perfume itself is no longer there. What are you interested in? No, it looks like it’s over…
With every word, the confidence in the voice of the saleswoman is slowly melting: it seems that she herself understands that 30% discounts against the backdrop of a total shortage of goods do not look very attractive.
Consultants of other brands no longer even try to portray optimism.
“Tell me, did you have…?” – I say the name of the fragrance, which was released in France in the summer.
The sales assistant looks almost with pity:
“Girl, we don’t have any goods at all.
And he explains: parallel imports, of course, are flourishing – but they are not equally useful for all brands, and they do not reach all stores equally successfully. Maybe, the consultant continues, by April they will bring a few goods that are in special demand, but it’s better to forget about new items and lines “for connoisseurs” right away.
Now let’s look in the online store – is there the same perfume? A bottle of the novelty fragrance, which never officially reached Russia, can be bought for 24,500 rubles (125 ml bottle), and this is taking into account all conceivable discounts and promotions. The good news is hooray, it still exists and is available for purchase! If you really want to. The bad news is that in the rest of the world such a bottle costs 120 euros, which is almost three times less. Although what’s the point of knowing how much a product “really” costs if you still can’t buy it at that price? Well, unless there is an opportunity to wave abroad …
It is not surprising that in 2022–2023 perfumes were most actively sold in Moscow and other cities of the Central Federal District. By the way, back in the summer and autumn of 2022, sales consultants said that stocks of goods were being transported to the capital from warehouses in other regions – so that Moscow customers, as the most solvent, would feel any consumer inconvenience later than others.
Newspaper headline:
The elusive scent of scarcity
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